


no pain in honor

by pratktcven (calciseptine)



Series: vrepit sa [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 16:40:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8021287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calciseptine/pseuds/pratktcven
Summary: “Hurt?” Sendak scoffs. “Is that what you fear?”





	no pain in honor

No matter how much magic and power is woven into Sendak’s arm, it is, in the end, a prosthesis.

“You will have one of these someday,” Sendak says. His tone is casual, a conversation. “No champion ever lived long before becoming an experiment.”

From the bed—naked and silent—Shiro watches as Sendak skillfully undoes the huge weapon his limb has become. The energy holding the shoulder piece and the forearm together dims gently; then the forearm falls with a soft clunk to the table. Sendak’s hand flutters against the rounded shoulder piece, unlatching the armor and setting that aside as well. He is by no means small—his natural shoulders are incredibly broad—but without the prosthesis, he looks… quieter.

“Does it hurt?” Shiro asks. It is not a question born of empathy. He feels vague curiosity and no more; after all, he is sure that Sendak’s arm had been removed by choice. Prisoners like Shiro—champions like Shiro—do not have that luxury.

“Hurt?” Sendak scoffs and does not look up. “Is that what you fear?”

It is not an answer. Shiro, too, does not reply.

Sendak is adept at removing his uniform with one hand. His fingers—pale purple and clawed—undo the hidden buttons and concealed zips with dexterity. When he is naked, he does not leave his clothes in a muddled pile upon the floor; instead, he picks them up and sets them over a chair so they do not wrinkle. Shiro would have thought Sendak’s meticulousness unusual if he had not witnessed it himself.

“There is no pain in honor,” Sendak says as he slides into bed. “I would give my life to the Empire and emperor. What penance is my arm?”

“Yourself,” Shiro responds.

“Self.” Again, Sendak scoffs. “What a childish thing.”

Then—as he has every day since Shiro was given to him—Sendak curls one large hand around the occiput of Shiro’s skull and pushes him down.

.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on my voltrash blog, [@pratktcven](http://pratktcven.tumblr.com/about)


End file.
